What's your favourite Queensryche song?

Chris Degarmo era Queensryche is and will always be my favorite prog rock/metal music ever written! I was so fortunate to see them live for the first time on the Operation Mindcrime tour...

Yes, the arpeggios of QR made me fall in love with their music. Absolutely LOVED this band up until Chris walked away. I was so fortunate to get to see them during their Empire Tour, in which they performed Operation Mindcrime in its entirety! The greatest concert of my lifetime!

We definitely need a "5 Killer Clean Riffs" for Queensryche too! And a 5 minute tones for them while you're at it!

Operation Mindcrime is a masterpiece that I think deserves more attention from mainstream metal fans.

DeGarmo and Wilton were simply epic masters of tone and texture. And that Hamer of yours along with your playing really does them justice.

One more short comment. I love how QR marries the music to the lyrics! The music supports the lyrical idea and enhances it. In THE MISSION I loved how the music BELIED the lyrics when Geoff sings:. My mission saved the world, and I stood proud...". During that part Nikki is trying to convince himself that what he's doing is still a good thing, but he's starting to doubt it. The WORDS are expressing triumph and pride, but the music on that part sounds remorseful and anguished. Whether by design or subconsciously, it's BRILLIANT!

RFO is from another space and time. That album sounds like nothing before or after it. Everything about that album just transcends what was being done at that time. Definitely my favourite QR album.

Bass intro to Disconnected on Promised land is killer. Also love the intense psycho drama of Screaming in Digital on Rage For Order, there's nothing out there quite like it.

"The Mission" is one of Queensryche's best tracks. The solo is brilliant. I feel like Dream Theater really "borrowed" a lot from this song when composing "Pull Me Under"

They were such an incredible band. Rage For Order was so far ahead of its time no one has caught up yet.

I also love Promised Land, an album that kind of gets overlooked, but there are some killer tracks on that album

Operation Mindcrime and Empire have to be two of the best produced albums of all time.

The ‘Live in Japan’ versions of Nightrider and Child of Fire are huge. I wore out that VHS. Good stuff, Leon. You had the appropriate amount of delayed chorus on your five riffs. Always appreciated!

Absolutely love this!

Queensrycs Empire is my favorite album also! You play it perfectly! Wow! 😎👍

Love that you did this! And yes a Queensryche clean arpeggiated chords video would be great. You certainly have the gear for it! Also agree on Empire, one of my favorite albums ever, with Della Brown at the top of that list.

Thank you for doing this vid! Queensryche does not get the hype it deserves! I know it’s not the most referenced, but something about the way the vocals harmonize with the guitars in “Breaking the Silence” just kills me every time.

I LOVE Queensryche! I was lucky enough to see them live with the new singer. I thought it wouldn’t be good without Geoff, but boy I was wrong. They were flawless…and the mix was perfect . I bought there EP also. And enjoyed how they have evolved through the years. Walking in the Shadows is one of my favs. Just an incredible band.

I guess my post was TOO long, cos it didn't come up. I just have so much to say about Queensryche that's it's hard to keep it short So I'll try again, and restrain myself. LOVED your video! Musicians give the best analyses of songs because of their knowledge, and in your case, good taste. PLEASE do MORE on Queensryche!! And you must realize there's NO WAY to pick ONE favorite QR song! So here are a few: ANYBODY LISTENING? WALK IN THE SHADOWS TAKE HOLD OF THE FLAME THE THIN LINE JET CITY WOMAN SILENT LUCIDITY BREAKING THE SILENCE THE MISSION EYES OF A STRANGER I DON'T BELIEVE IN LOVE SPREADING THE DISEASE ROADS TO MADNESS SCREAMING IN DIGITAL NM 156 NEUE REGEL ONE MORE TIME REAL WORLD To name a few.... I really enjoyed your comments, and you have a sincere and likable personality. Can't wait for more!

Leon: **Plays Take Hold of the Flame** Ryan: ***starts sweating***

I still remember being a senior in High School and hearing Queen of the Reich on the radio when it first came out. Spent the next 2 weeks trying to figure out the bands name to get that EP. Still an epic song almost 40 years later.🤘🏼

This video made me so very happy! I have to be careful, when writing, not to outright, steal their stuff. So great!

Knew it had to be Queensryche today, after comment in yesterday's Q&A. Lots of anticipation looking forward to this video...and boy did you deliver! :) Another vote here for a dedicated video to just those amazing clean parts. It's two fold: those pristine shimmering clean sounds, but also those chord arrangements. Would love a video on this!

Finally, someone gives The Mission the love it deserves. Great choice and great playing.

My favorite tracks are Screaming in Digital, Resistance and Spreading the Disease. FWIW, Queensryche almost singlehandedly made the BBE Sonic Maximizer standard equipment for guitar racks back in the 80's. It's a hallmark of their guitar sounds.

that empire intro riff is such a great one. a head turner whenever you play it

What’s interesting is, like yourself, I was introduced to Queensryche with Operation Mindcrime. There just is no way of describing the first time I heard the intro to Eyes of a Stranger. The way they use arpeggiated chords with distortion. For me, they were the first band that made distortion beautiful. My top 5: Walk in the Shadows Revolution Calling The Mission Della Brown Anybody Listening? One extra off of Promised Land: One More Time

One of my favorite bands and one of the best rock bands ever imo. Well done Leon 👏

dude, your selections were SPOT on!!!

Man, I couldn't click on this video fast enough when I saw Queensryche, plus Leon??? Hellya. 🔥

This video is a treasure for people to understand the glory of the bands best years...

They've been a massive influence on me. Both as a writer and guitarist, and as a singer. Eyes of a Stranger is probably my favorite or one of them. Geoff's voice is so unique to me in his style, tone and accent. I can hit the notes, but that uniqueness of his voice is something that can't be duplicated. When I was younger and did covers, I always tried to get my voice as much like the singers as possible. That's easier with some, as a singer has his own natural voice that you just can't stop from being there. Which is why now, if I were to do a cover, I would do my own version of it. I never considered them progessive as much as others though since they stay in 4/4 so much. I have always seen them as Cinematic Hard Rock. And original in their way.

Watching your video made me realise how much their guitar playing is in my songwriting. The different chord textures, escaping the typical power chord format is very present in my writing and I had no idea where that came from. Now I know. Thanks a lot for another great video, Leon.

One of my Favourite bands period !!!! awesome Leon .

In fact, I'll be seeing them tomorrow in Orlando, FL ! They're 1st DNA Tour show to kick off their tour !

Excellent Video Leon! I remember way back in the day a friend showed me a few new tapes ( Cassette's lol) he just bought of a few new bands he said I need to check out , one was Queensryche"s EP" that had Queen of the Ryche on it. I was Blown away as a kid and could not stop listening to it. I've been fan since then, they were a force to be reckon with in their prime.

I feel lucky to have seen them on the Mindcrime tour with the full stage production. One of the greatest concerts I’ve ever been to. Just a shockingly good show both in sound and spectacle.

I think the happiest I've ever seen an audience was when Geoff's solo band played *that* riff from The Needle Lies. 🤯🤘

Amazing videos Leon......very inspirational. Iv'e played drums for 35 years and only got into guitar 4 years ago and Queensryche along with Iron Maiden, Van Halen, and RUSH are my favorite bands. This is eye opening to me! keep them coming please!

Awesome unexpected choice but “the mission,”,probably my favorite song!

Love this! Thanks for bringing them back!!

Loved this. Grew up when Queensryche was starting out. First hearing the EP, as you said, it sounded like Seattle's own Iron Maiden. Seeing them live (opening for Kiss on the Warning tour), I couldn't believe two guitar players could play harmonized guitar riffs/solos so well. On Walk in the Shadows, I love the little harmonized parts during the verse - after each vocal. The intervals they came up with were nuts.

Thanks for covering the rhythm guitar section too ❤

Exactly what you said... that's how I discovered Queensrÿche as well. My Favorite band... all time.

The Mission is my favourite song on Mindcrime, although my favourite Mindcrime riff to play is the opening riff to 'I Don't Believe in Love

Brilliant work. My first introduction was to Empire with Anybody Listening, Jet City Woman and Another Rainy Night being my first favorites. My TOP deserted island album picks would be Rage For Order, Operation Mind Crime and Empire. Thankyou for this video. Love from Perth Western Australia.

Great Leon, sound amazing ... Regards from Spain/Italy

Great video! Bummer I’m only just now discovering it. Couldn’t agree more - Queensryche is also one of my all-time favorite bands - Was lucky enough to see them play live back when they were touring for Empire & playing the complete Operation Mindcrime album. Very influential band in my guitar path without a doubt. Thanks for putting this together. :)

Queensryche you picked a fantastic band there. First time I saw them 1984 the warning opening for Kiss animalize. Queenryche very odd chords that sound fantastic. I saw them last year but not the same with a different line up! Thanks for the video

Awesome mate. Last two weeks has been a diet of mindcrime and empire which is also my favourite. Love all the riffage etc. but della brown gets me all the time. Some of the best recorded clean and acoustic sounds period!!

Man! Thank you so much for honoring the mighty Queensryche. Hard to pick up just one song, but "The Killing Words" always comes back to mind

Couldn’t agree on your top 5 anymore!! Well picked 🫡

Nice to see some love for the 'Ryche!

Killer video LT !! One of my favorite bands all time !! Thanks !!

Great vid, great memories from the band!

Your demo of Walk in the Shadows... Just wow. Rage for Order is absolutely outstanding.

You had me with the admission to be a Queensryche influeced Guitar Player. Walk in the Shadows sealed the Like Button and the comment. It shows how great de Garmo-Queensryche were with all the love on the reaction channels they are getting. Good job, Leon. PS: And playing this lovely Hamer, you want me to like you hard, man.

That run from their debut EP to Empire is near perfection. I started listening to them when The Warning was released, one of the rock stations in Columbus, OH had "Take Hold Of The Flame" in their rotation. When I heard they were opening for Kiss on their Animalize tour I begged my mom to go...and I did. I saw them next on the Rage For Order tour opening for Ratt in Jackson, MS.

So glad you've done this video Leon, I've followed you channel for years learning how to get the best from my AX8, then moving onto getting a III and an FM3 But Queensryche, F~~king awesome! I got my parents to get me Empire for my birthday in 1992 after seeing the really cool looking ESP's Chris and Michael were using not long after I started playing, I'd never heard a song, but just the way they were described and looked in magazines like Kerrang made them sound so cool My parents also got me the Video Mindcrime compilation at the same time so I got a dose of Operation Mindcrime too. If you've seen the animation at the beginning of the LiveCrime show where the Nikki is playing his walkman and an electric shock goes into his brain - Well that was me, I f~~king adore those albums. Chris DeGarmo was such a huge influence. He really was the soul of the band for me. Promised Land was great, more introspective. I'd not liked Hear in The Now Frontier when it first came out but went back recently with fresh ears and there's some really great stuff on there. The past few albums with Todd have been really good too What a great band QR were at their peak!

I'm impressed man for your lics that almost sounds like original..

About time you did some Ryche. Heck yeah.

The Mission is my fav... gr8 vid sir

You did a fantastic job man I don’t know what else to say this was just inspiring and awesome.Killer video LT🤟🏻Rock on

I still have the first print of Empire Album Vinyl, I bought without knowing anything about the band, just out of the reviews of the, by then, printed rock magazines. It blew my mind and while many people still think OM is their peak, for me it is Empire. it was DeGarmo''s album,, it is a piece of art in itself and that jet City Woman track is indeed my favourite, and its solo, one of my favourite solos of all time with such an amazing musicality.

I know why I love your playing and your Ragdoll music. You pretty much love all the bands that I loved in my youth and still to this day. Queensryche is an absolutely ICON band. My favorite tune is probably "I don't believe in love." To pick just one is very hard, but I'll go with that one right now. Love your playing and your videos Leon. Keep up the great work. God bless and rock on 👍🎸😎

Amen! Queensryche are amazing. I saw them open for Iron Maiden in NYC at Radio City, Chris DeGarmo back pedalling across the stage while playing the solo to “The Lady Wore Black”. And I saw them open for Metallica during the Mindcrime era.

As I'm listening to Rage for Order for surprisingly the first time ever, a comment you made popped into my head. Something to the effect of you hear an amazing album and then immediately go check out the band's entire catalog. As a person who bought Empire as a new release at age 13, this just simply wasn't possible. There was no way anyone without a real job could afford buying them all. It was a constant issue to have your interest in music being restrained by your budget. At least from a fan perspective, things like the streaming services we have today are a wonder my teenage self couldn't have imagined.

My favorite opening of all time!!! Jet City Women and Another Rainy Night are two of my all-time favs!!!

That hamer sounds incredible. Great playing and tone, Leon

Never actually listened to Queensryche, but i will definitely give it a shot, the riffs sound awesome, and the guitar tone is just making me drool, so awesome

i remember not long after i started playing i had a crisis, thinking i had no business playing. i listened to operation mindcrime at the suggestion of friend and the title track made me think "yeah, I'm doing the right thing here. gotta learn this"

I'm with you Leon... Queensryche was a band me and my fellow musician friends always cranked up loud... and it wasn't just one song it was all of them...

This was a great band the original lineup was the best they were off the hook 👌 Love it 😀

One of the very few times I got into a band from the getgo was Queensrÿche...the glory days of university! I cannot listen to "...Mindcrime" unless it's start to finish, which isn't hard. It's like a great movie waiting for all the bits to turn up and before you know it it's over...such a ride. I don't know the truth of this but I was in a band while at university, and we got to know the local PA guys, and they always used "Empire" as the starting point to EQ everything...the claim being it was that well produced. Like I said, don't know if it's true but it was always a great time hearing that album through a 40,000 watt PA system in one of the university venues👍

So many killer riffs on Mindcrime. One of my favorites is "Spreading the Disease". My dad had a VHS of their iconic Mindcrime live show. I would watch it every night when I was 8 years old. He also had a Dokken one that rocked so hard. He still plays a George Lynch signature that he found out after he bought it had his autograph on the back of the head. His health is failing now, but he still wants Dio's "Last in Line" played at his funeral. Love him to death and I'll always be drawn to the music he loved. Legend of a dad ❤

Yes please do the QR clean arpeggiated version of 5 minute licks.

Have been waiting for this video for a while now brother. Jet City Woman!!!! My favorite track man, absolutely love playing it! The Operation Mindcrime record happens to be one the best IMO. Very well done on the double tracked guitars.

You sound great.My friend.I like your videos qr is awesome

Would! Stuff like Eyes of a Stranger are so eerie and beautiful.

yes, that is a booger hanging on to the 1st string😁 Yes, please do a video on clean sounds that they used

Man. I had to watch again this vid was so good and sounded so good. Brother I've decided the bridge pickup by Seymour Duncan custom 5 and the ada mp1 are the king of tone. 😂❤️🤘 Just wanted to say hello and listen to how well you recorded this and learn a couple of these. ❤️🤘❤️

That’s a dope Hamer! I had an old USA Californian when I was like 19 with the holographic paint. Queensrÿche called the music store I was teaching/working at back then and asked if they could use all of our Mesa Boogie amps FOR FREE for their show in town that night. I hung up. Went and saw them play and it was pretty decent so I guess they figured it out.

I kill for a video like this with JUST Op Mindcrime riffs.

Great video and good to see the Hamer. You should show your Queensryche presets on the AxeFx to get both the guitars and bass sound. They were great.

I need to listen to Queensrÿche

Favorite guitar moment: The trade-off solos in "Walk In The Shadows", favorite song (it's actually 4 in a row... and I think they should be played together every single time hahaha) "I Don't Believe In Love / Waiting For 22 / My Empty Room / Eyes Of A Stranger"........... this band still gets my blood pumping after all of these years. I love them (minus the large group of bad albums they released). I just saw them 2 weeks ago and they played a near dream setlist. Was an incredible show - even with the absence of DeGarmo and Rockenfield. Todd really brings his A game vocally.

First thing that comes to mind was Silent Lucidity. Enjoyed a lot of ballads during those years but really pursued contemporary jazz, fusion, and yes...classical music!

Ha, when I started this up I said "Man, he better not miss having Jet City Woman on there" . Low and behold :)

Amazing Leon!

I was hoping you were going to go with the NM-156 riff. That is a brutal riff. And that dual guitar solo is fire!

Great !

5:00 for Rage I'm going "The Whisper" and "Surgical Strike" OM I'm going "Spreading The Disease" "The Needle Lies" "Breaking The Silence" Empire I'm going "Empire" "Resistance" "One And Only"

I had never heard of Queensryche until a bass player friend took me to a show right as Operation Mindcrime was released. It was a mid-sized club show, only partly full, and they were absolutely phenomenal - one of the best 3 shows I've ever seen. I knew none of their songs, but from about 30 seconds into the set I was completely dumbstruck - didn't move an inch. When they finally let up, I realized I was holding the same beer that I bought when we came in, still full and warm. Thinking about their sound and energy still gives me chills - they were THAT good. The next day I started learning their material.....

Great Band One of my all time favorite Metal bands Great selected ones 🙏🏻👍🏻

My favorite band. The original lineup. And before hear in the now frontier.

Yea yea great video and all, could you PLEASE CUT THE LITTLE HANGING E STRING? Its killing me 😂

I bought the EP when it first came out,and was hooked…”Lady wore Black”was amazing….I actually saw them live on the Rage for Order tour….One of the best bands from that decade for sure…Chris DeGarmo was an amazing songwriter and player…Awesome band,huge influence on me…they don’t make ‘em like that anymore…

think you said it all

Empire was the Ryche favorite album on the US west coast